Log in

HERITAGE ACADEMY BETH MORASHA INC

nonprofit

Heritage Academy provides students in grades K-8 with an excellent secular & Judaic education through a nurturing and enriching environment.

On March 1, 1951 a small group of devoted people signed the original charter to organize the Springfield Hebrew Day School. It was located in the Perets school building on Sumner Avenue, and then moved to Wesson Mansion on Maple Street. In 1982, the school moved to its current site on the Jewish Community Center campus.

The educational philosophy at Heritage Academy is based on both rigor, defined as hard work and the transmission of knowledge, and flexibility, defined as meeting the needs of individual students through the use of differentiated instruction. Additionally, higher-level thinking skills are taught and emphasized. This would include: application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Bringing the outside world into the school, and students to the outside world, are routine practices. Field trips and arts and culture initiatives are commonplace. Lastly, affective learning is an important component of the environment and curriculum. The emotions, attitudes and values of our students complete their total education.

The effective faculty at Heritage Academy is made up of teachers strong in subject-matter knowledge, skilled in pedagogy, attuned to the psychological well-being of their students, and interesting and engaging in the classroom. Teachers will exhibit positive energy and humor. Teachers are hired, retained, and dismissed based on these criteria.

Heritage Academy, being a Jewish Community Day School, must include another dimension to its educational philosophy. Heritage Academy is committed to being a pluralistic day school. Families across the spectrum of Jewish observance are welcome at the school, and therefore the curriculum and teacher attitudes must reflect inclusiveness, broadmindedness, compromise, accommodation, patience, and community. Traditional text study, the Hebrew language, and love of Israel and the Jewish people permeate all aspects of the curriculum.